African Animals at Sunset

This has been a long time coming!  I had the idea in 2014 to make my uncle an African quilt in time for his retirement and 65th birthday.  My mother's family was from Africa.  I purchased the black fabrics and a background way back then.  I did not like the original background and so the project got shelved.

During 2019, I pulled out this long neglected project because my uncle's 70th birthday was approaching in 2020 - and we all know how quickly time passes.  😉

I used  evenings to trace the shapes onto fusible webbing and cut out the fabric silhouettes.  I was still unhappy with the background and the project got put away in December.  Early in January, I spied a new range "sky" ombre of fabrics in a local shop window.  BINGO!!!  I had finally found the right background.

Background fabric.

Relief.  Suddenly I could see my way forward to getting this quilt made with the vision in my mind.

Sun is inset into background.

I used a dinner plate to trace a circle on gold lamé fabric to make the sun.  I then, very, very carefully cut around the cloud pattern on the fabric and inset the sun.  Once fused in place, I appliqued around the edge of the sun and clouds with rayon threads and machine blanket stitch.  I did not want that sun to move.

Animals and tree being placed.  Not yet sewn on.

My 15yr old son arranged the animals.  The men in this house liked the bright background and the silhouettes of the tree and animals.  I think they might want a quilt like this for us.  It turned into a family affair with Mr 18 and Hubby having a say too.

The animals and tree were stitched around with a very dark navy rayon thread and a very small machine blanket stitch.

Sun detail.

I did not quilt the sun, but I did quilt sun rays and followed the pattern in the fabric to give the illusion of clouds.

Giraffes against the sky.

The quilting in the lower half of the quilt was a wavy design to represent shifting sands.  I changed the thread colours as I moved down to the darker parts of the quilt.

Rhinoceros  

I love how the backing shows up the quilting design as well.

Backing onto front.

On the Saturday before my Uncle's birthday, I got the last stitch in the label and made it to the local post office/general store right before closing. And... in  a stroke of good luck, the parcel arrived 4 days later on the actual day of his 70th birthday.  I could not have planned better.

A final photo before posting.

Uncle Ian holding up his new quilt which
arrived via post on the day of his 70th Birthday.

I am so pleased that I decided to go ahead and make this quilt.  Once I got the ball rolling, it came together easily and was a complete delight to work on.  He called me after receiving the parcel and was almost in tears with joy.  My heart is very full of love.


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NB:  For the applique shapes, I used this pattern.

Charm Squares and Flowers

Preparing a new project to take away on Retreat, when you have someone special in mind is always fun.  Using gifted charm squares - 4 x 20 piece packs - plus an idea to have some appliqued flowers scattered through the quilt to add interest certainly got me eager to start.  And.. with 11 months until the intended birthday that I was making this quilt for, I thought I had plenty of time!

Fabric Selection.  In the end, the light green fabric was left out.

Before the Retreat, I fussy cut the applique flowers from the red fabric so that the little white flower in the print made a nice centre.

Fussy cut flower.

I then fused the flowers to their backgrounds and appliqued them with a very small machine blanket stitch at my local Friday Bee.  They were very happy little blocks to stitch.

Flowers fused but not yet sewn.

 All cut out and ready to go on Retreat.  The applique blocks are in the bottom of the container.  So easy to chain sew while chatting to others. 

First order of the day was to sew all of the short sashing strips to the sides of the squares before joining them into rows.  90 blocks in all.

The laying out of the blocks and getting the colour balance right took me quite a long time.  The yellow squares were quite a bit brighter than the other fabrics in the pack and they needed to be balanced throughout the quilt.  Also, while laying out a quilt on Retreat, everyone has an opinion and it made for some fun conversations.  😄  I always find it fascinating how other people perceive colour and placement.

Backing and binding onto front.

I finished this quilt off with simple in the ditch quilting so that it would stay nice and soft for snuggling under with a good book.  The binding is a teal batik which matched perfectly.

The finished product!
56in wide x 62in high (142cm x 158cm)

I completed this quilt in time for my niece for her 11th birthday.  A good size for her to grow into teenage years with.  And.... she loved it upon opening, as did my sister (her mum).   

Note:  While there is nothing new about sashing charm squares to make a quilt and I have done this many, many times before and taught others, I did use the free template from here for my flowers.  The flower template is half-way down the page.